This Doesn't Have to Be Love
by Hacked It Out and Fell
Summary: I did it. The horrors a ::gasp:: WAFF songfic about Lina and Gourry. Oh, what have I done?


*thing that states I don't own any part of Slayer or the song "This Doesn't   
Have to be Love" by Wilson Phillips*  
  
  
This Doesn't Have To Be Love  
  
Lina Inverse had never been one to have a deep connection to her emotions.   
She was a flighty girl and was always on the run. She couldn't stand to be   
caged or kept in one place too long. She was always running wild.   
  
Gourry knew all these things well, he had been with her for nearly five   
years now. He stood back watching her haggle with a merchant   
over some kind of a scroll. She was loud and brazen, not taking no  
for an answer. He had to laugh as she walked away with the scroll,   
she looked like a kid that had just got a sweet from the candy store.  
Nodding as she jabbered on and waved the scroll in triumph Gourry walked   
with her down the street. She was so alive now, but tonight he knew she   
would become withdrawn. They would have to share a room at the inn but he   
hadn't told her that yet.  
  
`Softly, love is standing here with it's demands`  
`(Tell me what you want from me, you want from me)`   
`Slowly, I think I'm letting go of all my plans`  
`(Tell me where we goin' to, we're goin' to)`  
  
`Why, why am i afraid to give into this`  
`Why am I afraid`  
  
Lina looked at the one bed, her high spirits sinking. She always dreaded   
this more than anything. She had found this out during supper and tried to   
convince Gourry that they could camp out, but he refused. The room was   
already paid for. She had long ago learned that Gourry was more stubborn   
than her at times. She spread her sleeping bag out on the floor and Gourry   
did the same with his on the other side of the bed. She glanced at him, at   
the bed. She knew neither would sleep there tonight.  
  
`This doesn't have to be love`  
`But this is all I can feel, it's all I fear.`  
`This doesn't have to be anything at all,`  
`So hard to fall (from this high above)`  
But do we have to call it love?  
  
Gourry sat polishing his sword, he leaned against the wall watching her. She  
had her back to him, still fully dressed. She hadn't even taken her armor off   
yet. She was doing something with the scroll she had bought today. At least   
that's what he knew she was trying to make it look like. Inside he sighed,   
he wanted her to relax around him. To give up the fear and insecurity of   
opening up to her emotions. Why was she so afraid to tell him, to even show   
him what she felt. When would he find the courage to tell her what he felt   
so deeply?   
  
`I hold back, from everything I really want to say`  
`(Should I let my guards down, my guards down, my guards down)`  
`I don't, I don't make commitments that could break`  
`(Maybe it's just too late, it's just too late)`  
  
`I, I'm so afraid to give into this`  
`I'm so afraid, Oh`  
  
"Lina, we could share the bed you know. It's big enough for us both to be   
comfortable. Please, there is no need to be afraid of me. I would never do   
anything to you, you know that." Gourry spoke the words in a soft tone, he   
was unsure why he spoke them aloud.  
  
`This doesn't have to be love`  
`But this is all I can feel, it's all I fear.`  
`This doesn't have to be anything at all,`  
`So hard to fall (from this high above)`  
`But do we have to call it love?`  
  
He spoke to her, she knew it. There was no one else in the room with them,   
this was their room. He was asking for something, something that required   
her to trust him, more than the simple trust of friends and traveling   
companions. She felt something in her heart stir, the longing for closeness.   
She bit her lip hard, she didn't want this. It hurt to think about that fact   
the Gourry had nearly been taken from her once and that was years ago. The   
feeling were just beginning to bloom. Now she kept the flower of her emotions,   
that red rose of her love hidden carefully away.   
  
She knew he was waiting for her, not just for an answer for tonight, but for   
her. He knew her, the sides of feelings that were never shown to anyone. She   
had opened up to him in the desert, she had asked him his feeling and he had   
told her. Then she felt the pain off loss, she didn't understand why she had   
cried that morning, when she awoke. She didn't want to feel that pain again.  
It was foreign to her to know that she ..cared for someone like that.  
  
Blue eyes met the crimson ones that looked to them, searching for an answer   
to give. Was she ready to finally open up to him?  
  
`Need a little time to think things through, Baby`  
`Do I really want to give myself, give all of myself to you, now?`  
`I can't believe it's happening so fast`  
`'Cause I don't want to bring back what I left in the past, No.`  
  
Time passed and finally the two rose, no words were spoken between them.   
Swords were sat near them, always to be ready for anything. Armor was shed   
and set aside, while backs were turned and clothed were changed. At last the   
covers were turned back and hesitantly they lay down beside each other.   
Once more eyes met and were locked in each other's depth as they lay facing   
each other. The only sound either could hear was their own rapidly, beating   
hearts.  
  
`This doesn't have to be love`  
`But this is all I can feel, it's all I fear.`  
`This doesn't have to be anything at all,`  
`So hard to fall (from this high above)`  
`But do we have to call it love?`  
  
It was well past noon when Lina awoke, she had slept deeply, not moving the   
whole night once sleep finally found her. Shifting some, she felt Gourry   
move with her. She then realized that during the night they had come to lay   
against one another. He was pressed to her back, one arm wrapped protectively  
around her. She felt the heat of her blush form over her face as she lay   
there, so close to him. She knew now there would be no turning back, she   
wanted to wake up every morning, feeling him there, next to her. It all felt   
right. This terrified her more now.  
  
`So hard to fall...in love`  
`This doesn't have to be...love`  
`(Love, love is all I feel...your love is what I fear)`  
`Love me...love me`  
`So hard to fall`  
`So very hard to fall`  
  
Gourry felt her stiffen and move. He lay still only moving when he had too.   
She hadn't jerked away from him or become angered at his closeness. This   
simple act made his heart beat faster.  
  
"Gourry, I've been thing about going somewhere?"  
  
"Where Lina?" He slowly moved to rest his chin on her shoulder   
sitting up some.  
  
"Home Gourry. I haven't been there in a really long time."   
  
Rising up he moved so that she could lay on her back and look up at him. Her   
eyes were so filled with a tenderness and unsurity that Gourry couldn't help   
but feel the need to protect her. He remained over her, protective of the one  
under him as he listened to her talk.  
  
"I haven't seen my parents in years, and I haven't seen my big sister in   
even longer. I want you to come with me Gourry, I want them to meet the man   
that has been at my side these last five years. Will you come with me to   
Zephilia?"  
  
He smiled, she was so small, so unsure. She didn't have to ask if he would   
come with her, he just smiled lovingly to her and lowered himself down to   
her lips. He wasn't afraid anymore to show her how he felt. Just before   
their lips touched he spoke, "Lina you asked me once how long I planned to   
travel with you, and I said that I didn't know, for the rest of my life   
maybe. Lina Inverse you are my life now, I will go with you anywhere that   
you want. You see Lina, I love you." His lips touched her's and for the   
first time they will remember, a kiss was shared. 


End file.
